Monday 17 November 2008 04.45 EST
First published on Monday 17 November 2008 04.45 EST

Gordon Brown said today he would not rule out introducing a system of presumed consent to tackle Britain's shortage of organ donors, despite a government taskforce advising against a change in the law.

The UK Organ Donation Taskforce said today that an opt-out system, which is supported by the prime minister and the British Medical Association, would not solve the shortage of donors.

But Brown said he would wait to see the impact of the taskforce's recommendations before considering again whether presumed consent was the way forward.

"While they are not recommending the introduction of a presumed consent system, as I have done, I am not ruling out a further change in the law," he said. The prime minister hinted that the proposal for presumed consent could be revisited sooner rather than later if there was not a significant rise in the number of donors.

"The proposal is that we double the number of volunteers to 50%. If we can't get there quickly we will return to the proposal," he said.

Norman Lamb, the Lib Dems' health spokesman, described the conclusions of the taskforce as "disappointing" and urged the government to press ahead with an opt-out system.

"Although this is an issue that will arouse strong reactions, the potential for saving lives through a system of presumed consent cannot be ignored," he said.

Elisabeth Buggins, a member of the taskforce, which was set up by the government to help increase the number of donors, said a new law that would require people actively to opt out of the donor register was "quite clearly … not the best way of increasing the number of organs available".

The taskforce, an independent advisory committee, amassed more than 400 pages of evidence from around the world.

Buggins said the corresponding body in Spain, the country with the best organ donation rate in the world, reported back that presumed consent "hasn't made any difference".

"They had presumed consent from 1979 to 1989 and the donation rate was almost flat," she told BBC Breakfast. "Then they made the changes, which we are just in the process of beginning, and their donation rate is now three times as good as ours."

"People who have received an organ said that the concept of a gift, of that organ being freely given, by the family, by the donor, is very important to them," she said.

An estimated 8,000 people in the UK need an organ transplant but only 3,000 operations are carried out each year. About 1,000 people in the UK die every year while waiting for a transplant.

Along with the BMA, the Royal College of Surgeons and the Royal College of Pathologists have supported the change, which would involve amending the Human Tissue Act of 2004. The Observer launched a campaign in January calling for a change in the law.

The prime minister, who voted against the proposed system in 2004, said this year: "It seems to have the potential to close the aching gap between the potential benefits of transplant surgery in the UK and the limits imposed by our system of consent."

Many patients' groups are opposed to presumed consent.

Katherine Murphy, director of the Patients Association, said it was "not a decision the government can make on behalf of people".

Speaking on BBC Radio 4's Today programme, Buggins called for more coordinators to support grieving families, a major publicity campaign and an increase in the number of people ready to retrieve organs from donors.

She said there was a need to "dispel the myths" surrounding the subject, pointing out that some people believed organs were transplanted before donors were dead.

Dr Vivienne Nathanson, of the BMA, said a system of presumed consent could boost the number of donations once other issues had been addressed.

"Spain is absolutely right that you have to have the facilities in place," she told BBC Breakfast. "Once you have got that in place, presumed consent would add an extra few percentage points and that may be extremely important if you are the person who doesn't get an organ simply because you are in that group that there aren't enough for. That does make a difference."